DeJuan Blair, full-fledged grownup

When DeJuan Blair arrived in San Antonio as a rookie last season, much ado was made about how he’d transition to the NBA game.

Could he survive against 7-footers every night? How quickly would he learn the league? Would he grasp the Spurs’ complex defensive system? Would he be anything more than a one-dimensional rebounder?

It turns out the Spurs put almost as much thought into helping Blair transition off the floor as well.

Before joining the Spurs, Blair had spent the first 20 years of his life inside a 1-mile radius in Pittsburgh: growing up in the Hill District, attending Schenley High and then Pitt. Members of the Spurs’ brain trust were well aware that Blair was essentially leaving home for the first time, and could require extra care in making that rite of passage.

After shootaround in Pittsburgh on Thursday, in preparation for Blair’s homecoming game tonight against Cleveland, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich talked about the measures the team’s support staff took to ensure Blair made a smooth transition to life outside the Steel City.

“We wanted to make sure we paid enough attention to this young person outside of basketball, so he got brought up the right way,” Popovich said. “There are a lot of distractions when you leave home and all of sudden you’re a young kid in the world and you’ve got money. We kept pretty close watch on him.”

In San Antonio, Blair found a good friend and dinner companion in George Hill, a mentor in Tim Duncan and a father figure in Popovich.

“(Pitt) Coach (Jamie) Dixon brought me from a boy to a man, from Schenley to Pitt,” Blair said. “Coach Pop has taken over from there — showing me how to be mature and do everything on my own.”

Though Blair, now 21, said he appreciated the extra attention as a rookie, he didn’t really need it. Aside from one incident — he wrecked his car driving to the AT&T Center for a playoff game against Dallas last April, but was unhurt — Blair’s off-the-court life in San Antonio has been uneventful.

“At this point, we look at him as a full-fledged grown up,” Popovich said. “After watching him last year, we realize we didn’t even have to watch him like we did.”